desk—but no one else was around right now to help with this particular little…problem. “We’ll keep him contained. If he charges, you get out of the way.”
Hannah was new, but Izzie had to admit the woman was fearless and knew her stuff. “Second that.”
“Believe me: if I get the chance, I am so running from...that.” Nikkie Jean’s typical snark was itching to escape, apparently. “Watch the arm, though, Iz. No more breaks for you.”
They stayed where they were—ignoring the man’s wildly suggestive and completely anatomically impossible suggestions to the three of them—until Vince arrived. He had two tall strong men with him. Rafe…and Allen.
Izzie was totally thrown off stride in an instant.
Allen was back on the schedule for emergency calls, then. Good. She’d missed him. Nothing felt right without himthere next to her.
A doofy little smile threatened to escape.
Had the situation not been so imperative, it probably would have.
She’d missed him. Missed his arms around her as she’d slept, too. Trying to sleep during the day, curled up with Oliver and a ticked off ginger cat hadn’t been the same. Those two had chosen their sides of the bed and war ensued if one dared to cross.
Rather like Izzie and Allen had that first night together in the van.
She pulled in a breath. It was time she focused on what she needed to do to find normal again.
To build a new normal with him. First, though…
She, Hannah, and Nikkie Jean had nowhere to go, with Mr. Bell in front of them and the reception desk behind them. Not without putting Nikkie Jean directly in the man’s...line of fire.
Izzie got the feeling Mr. Bell was enjoying this strange little show in which he was the star. Immensely. That meant there was probably only one inevitable conclusion.
Izzie’s eyes met Vincent’s. The head of security wasn’t bothered by anything FCGH could throw at him. He was awesome.
Vincent nodded at her. Then moved, revealing the two men behind him.
Izzie jumped out of his way—and physically blocked Nikkie Jean when Mr. Bell started to run straight at them, grabbing for girl parts.
Hannah’s arms went over hers, and the three of them slipped to the side—out of the way of the three larger men behind them. Izzie made certain to take most of Nikkie Jean’s weight to keep her friend from slamming to the tile floor—and to keep her new removable cast from bumping her friend when they landed. Her old one had been structurally weakened by the bullet graze. Rafe had had a new, removable cast ordered for her that first afternoon.
She didn’t know how they’d managed it, but they had. Within seconds Mr. Bell was contained. She’d have a few new bruises in the morning, but she was almost getting used to that. It was kind of becoming her way of life.
The men got Mr. Bell covered appropriately, to his dismay, and hauled off to Psych.
“You ok, Nik?” she asked the smaller woman next to her. Nikkie Jean was pulling herself back to her feet.
“I’m good, but that? I’m in shock.”
“It was enough to turn a woman off of penises for life.”
“That was the ugliest furried thing I have ever seen,” Nikkie Jean whispered. “The things he said—let’s just say I am glad I got pregnant before I saw that. Or I would never have risked getting Caine’s clothes off. I think I’m scarred for life—even more than I was.”
Izzie laughed outright. No kidding. She was beyond thrilled Allen didn’t look like…that. “Hey, we survived.”
“No kidding.” Nikkie Jean grinned back at her as the inevitable jokes started. “Never a dull moment in the ER.”
“You three ok?” a male voice asked from behind Nikkie Jean.
Izzie’s eyes met his. He had that little half smile on his face. The one that told her he was having wicked thoughts. Which inevitably involved her.
He’d heard what she’d said. Heat hit her cheeks, but she kept her mouth shut.
No use giving him ammunition he’d use against her—at least not until she’d have a way to extract her revenge.
She loved being able to play with him.
It had taken a few days of them together on the beach for her to realize that she trusted him enough to do just that.
She’d trusted him more than she ever had any man on the planet—including her uncle.
“No lasting damage,” Nikkie Jean told Allen. “But...if that ever happens again, I’m transferring to Barratt County.”
“Uh-huh. We all know that’s so you can be with the big guy there himself,” Virat said from behind them.
Now, all